Thursday, July 17, 2008 Espinoza: ‘Cut and paste’ project study? By Elias L. Espinoza Free Zone
EVERYONE is feeling the economic crunch. The weekly increase in the prices of gasoline and diesel is most felt, though, by PUJ drivers.
In this setup, it won’t be long before only few motor vehicles will ply the streets. People will just walk if not use a bicycle in going to work or in doing other activities.
Bicycle, the popular mode of transportation in China, may yet become a craze here. In Metro Manila, some workers are already doing some pedaling. Bicycle merchants are therefore delighted with the increase in their sales.
Biking is not only healthy but is also environment friendly. But I hope bicycle shop owners won’t take advantage of the situation by jacking up bicycle prices.
The sad thing about the situation is that the price of oil seldom goes down even if the price of petroleum products in the world market dips. In the end, we the consumers bear the price burden.
Is government helpless? Certainly not, because if it removes taxes on imported oil the retail price will go down. But I don’t think government wwill do that because it would create a huge deficit in revenues.
Perhaps, all we can do for now is cross our fingers until oil producing countries hear our complaints.
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The case that the Mandaue City councilors filed against Mayor Jonas Cortes before the Office of the President will further widen their gap. Efforts to reconcile the mayor with the opposition-dominated Council will now be futile.
The complaint stemmed from Cortes’ two executive orders that allegedly contradicted the provisions of the law and the City’s appropriation ordinance.
Executive Order 13 directed finance officials to disregard a provision in the budget ordinance that requires an enabling resolution before funds from lump sum appropriations are disbursed.
Cortes is not a lawyer. I am not saying this would exempt him from any liability if he violated the law, but the mayor would not have issued the order without the advice of his legal and financial advisers.
I am not blaming his advisers because they may have thought they were right. It’s just that their belief is wrong.
This case could just be the first and more may come especially because the 2010 elections are just around the corner.
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The reclamation project worth P50 billion that Lapu-Lapu City is planning to implement is not a joke and Cebu Province is not happy unless it gets a share.
I am not saying that the bone of contention is the P50 billion. As the reports suggest, what is being questioned is the authority of the City to reclaim.
If my memory serves me right, the project was conceptualized during the time of then mayor Jun Weigel when Pabling Garcia was the governor.
It was awarded to a contractor under the build operate transfer scheme. The contractor had completed the project study and submitted it.
A notice to proceed was issued to the contractor but the implementation was stalled because the City and the Province could not agree on the sharing scheme.
It seems that the City and the Province overlooked the fact that the reclamation project was already awarded to a contractor. A former Lapu-Lapu City official told me that the project study the City presented was copied from the previous project study.
If the claim of this former city official is true, then someone must answer for it. Plagiarism is a crime.
